The Interpublic Group of Companies, Inc. (NYSE:IPG) Short Interest Update

The Interpublic Group of Companies, Inc. (NYSE:IPG) was the target of a large growth in short interest in November. As of November 30th, there was short interest totalling 29,100,000 shares, a growth of 15.8% from the November 15th total of 25,120,000 shares. Currently, 7.8% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 5,030,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 5.8 days.

Institutional Trading of Interpublic Group of Companies

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of IPG. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in Interpublic Group of Companies by 15.1% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 29,844,859 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $943,993,000 after purchasing an additional 3,920,975 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Interpublic Group of Companies by 571.7% in the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,466,376 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $42,657,000 after buying an additional 1,248,062 shares in the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board boosted its position in shares of Interpublic Group of Companies by 19.8% during the second quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 5,436,803 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $158,157,000 after acquiring an additional 899,332 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in Interpublic Group of Companies by 13.8% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 6,842,846 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $199,063,000 after acquiring an additional 828,150 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Squarepoint Ops LLC increased its holdings in Interpublic Group of Companies by 168.3% in the 2nd quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 831,434 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $24,186,000 after acquiring an additional 521,546 shares during the last quarter. 98.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

IPG has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Macquarie restated a “neutral” rating and set a $31.00 target price on shares of Interpublic Group of Companies in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered Interpublic Group of Companies from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $36.00 to $33.00 in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Interpublic Group of Companies from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and raised their target price for the company from $26.00 to $34.00 in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Barclays cut their price target on shares of Interpublic Group of Companies from $32.50 to $32.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, BNP Paribas cut shares of Interpublic Group of Companies from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $31.71.

Interpublic Group of Companies Stock Performance

Shares of IPG stock traded up $0.03 on Monday, reaching $29.92. The stock had a trading volume of 7,364,119 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,247,313. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a current ratio of 1.09. Interpublic Group of Companies has a 1 year low of $26.88 and a 1 year high of $35.17. The stock has a market cap of $11.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.18 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $30.05 and a 200 day simple moving average of $30.36.

Interpublic Group of Companies (NYSE:IPG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The business services provider reported $0.70 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.70. Interpublic Group of Companies had a net margin of 7.44% and a return on equity of 27.76%. The business had revenue of $2.24 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.30 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.70 EPS. The company’s revenue was down 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that Interpublic Group of Companies will post 2.81 EPS for the current year.

Interpublic Group of Companies Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 2nd will be given a $0.33 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 2nd. This represents a $1.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.41%. Interpublic Group of Companies’s payout ratio is currently 62.26%.

Interpublic Group of Companies Company Profile

The Interpublic Group of Companies, Inc provides advertising and marketing services worldwide. It operates in three segments: Media, Data & Engagement Solutions, Integrated Advertising & Creativity Led Solutions, and Specialized Communications & Experiential Solutions. The Media, Data & Engagement Solutions segment provides media and communications services, digital services and products, advertising and marketing technology, e-commerce services, data management and analytics, strategic consulting, and digital brand experience under the IPG Mediabrands, UM, Initiative, Kinesso, Acxiom, Huge, MRM, and R/GA brand names.